Monday, July 6, 2009

Today we honor FusajiroYamauchi for founding Nintendo and HiroshiYamachi (Fusajiro's grandson) for making Nintendo an international brand. A native of Kyoto, Japan, F. Yamauchi started Nintendo playing cards in 1889. The handmade cards were so popular that the elder Yamauchi had to keep adding more and more employees and open another shop in Osaka.

However, it was Fusajiro's grandson, Hiroshi, that really made Nintendo the international force that it is today.

It was Hiroshi that realized

that the playing card market was limited and began to invest in other avenues. Hiroshi was the president of Nintendo from 1956 to 1975. Under his leadership,

Nintendo started to move into electronics, like this picture to the left.

Today Nintendo is a force in the market. Last year it had $16 Billion in sales and is considered by many to be the leader in electronic gaming. So, today we honor Fusajiro and HiroshiYamauchi for taking their private property and making Nintendo into the economic powerhouse it is today. I didn't have time to aggregate all the monetary wealth Nintendo has contributed, but I know Nintendo has brought me and millions of others great joy!